


Forging Bonds: The Collaring

by rebelrsr



Series: Bondsverse [4]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: BDSM, Collars, Dom/sub, Established Relationship, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-09
Updated: 2016-08-09
Packaged: 2018-08-07 14:23:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7718221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebelrsr/pseuds/rebelrsr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Faith takes a big step in her relationship with Tara.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forging Bonds: The Collaring

The sound of Tara’s soft breaths should have helped Faith sleep. She’d learned to enjoy Tara’s vocal range, from barely audible to rafter-shaking snores. They were…comforting. The way Tara’s warmth pressed into her side and her arm curled protectively across Faith’s stomach made Faith’s nightmares less frequent. Less nightmare-y.

Tonight, though, all those things failed. Faith stared at the darkened ceiling. Her body itched with thwarted adrenaline. Her legs twitched. Then her arms. Her hands. Clenching her teeth, she fought to stay still, to remain in bed with Tara. To simply not give in.

It was a losing battle. Less than a minute later, Faith slipped from Tara’s embrace and stood. Being upright didn’t diffuse the inner energy. Not at all. Faith fairly vibrated with it. Each second that she stayed at the foot of the bed, watching Tara sleep, the need to move _grew_. This wasn’t like before. Faith wasn’t on the verge of fleeing. No way. No _way_ was she deserting Tara.

Instead of feeling pulled to run, Faith heard another siren’s call. So loud and pure and pulsing that it hammered through her in waves. Unable to ignore the cause of her restlessness any longer, Faith spun and glared at Tara’s cluttered desk. At the pile of school books and Dominance books. At the notepads and various pens and pencils. The backpack dangling from the back of the chair.

The mess mocked her. Tara’s reading material and school supplies hadn’t kept Faith awake and jittery. A tiny, hidden box had done that. A box Faith had found by accident the week before when she’d been looking for a new notebook for her _own_ classes.

She walked across the room on silent feet. Her hands caressed the cheap particle-board knob on the drawer hiding the box from view. Faith knew she shouldn’t open the drawer. Tara had clearly not wanted her to know about the box. It was, after all, shoved into the drawer and buried under one of Tara’s mother’s spellbooks.

Faith had to see it again, though. Maybe then she could stop thinking about it. Could curl back in bed to sleep.

The drawer slid open with only a slight catch as the warped “wood” stuck for a second. Faith resisted the urge to Slayer it open. Her patience was rewarded. She reached beneath the old, stained, leather-bound book for the box. It wasn’t small yet it wasn’t large, either. Maybe five or six inches by three inches. And only a couple of inches think.

The black velvet box rested easily in Faith’s hands. Hands that trembled as she popped open the lid to stare at the matching platinum collar and cuff nestled inside.

The same collar and cuff Tara had stared at the night she’d claimed Faith. The night Faith had panicked like a newbie Slayer with her first vampire. The collar and cuff Tara had bought and hidden at some point since that night over a year ago.

Out of the vaults of her memory, Faith could still hear Tara’s wistful voice ask, “ _Would you **like** me to wrap that collar around your neck so that every Dominant knew you were mine alone_?”

“Yes,” Faith whispered. Fucking _yes_! The box and its precious cargo blurred as tears threatened to overwhelm her. What had seemed like a life sentence in hell that night so long ago now beckoned with the promise of warmth and the feel of Faith’s favorite mental “Tara blanket” wrapped around her. She wanted that collar more than anything other than Tara’s continued love and support.

She wasn’t running away like a fucking coward again.

The platinum links were cool against her fingers as she removed it from the box before setting the box (and the remaining cuff) on the desk for later. Before fear froze her in place or sent her running for cover, Faith turned back to the bed. She stared at her sleeping Dominant. “Tara?” Her voiced cracked through the room like the sound of a starter’s pistol.

A veteran member of the Scoobies now, Tara rolled off the bed and stood, eyes flying open immediately.

It was Faith’s cue. She took one step and dropped to her knees. Bowed her head.

“Faith...” Tara said. “Sweetie? What’s going on?”  
  
All of a sudden, pressure built in Faith’s head as Tara’s emotions exploded through the link. There were so many, all at once. “Wh-where did you find that?”

Glancing up, Faith realized Tara was glaring at the collar in her hands. She didn’t answer the question. She couldn’t. She already had enough to grapple with because her mind was completely blank. She couldn’t even remember what she’d planned to say. Licking her parched lips, she choked out, “Tara.”

That wasn’t right. Faith wasn’t having a conversation with a friend. Tara wasn’t Willow or Xander. She was so much more. But the right words wouldn’t come. Frustration tightened her muscles and sent her heart into overdrive.   
  
Through it all, Tara watched her and waited. Tara must know what was happening; she had to. Faith had seen the way Tara had taken a step toward her when she’d seen the collar. The way she’d raised her hand as if to take the collar from Faith before pressing it tightly over her mouth.

A wisp of remembered conversation flitted through Faith’s mind. An argument she’d had with Tara not long after they’d defeated the mayor. _“This is your choice, Faith. The bond isn’t a prison sentence, and I’m not your warden. We can stay just like we are, friends and occasional lovers. Or you can repudiate the bond.” Tara’s voice wavered on the final sentence. She wasn’t as calm and controlled as she tried to pretend. “I’ve told you that over and over. I won’t force you to stay with me.”_  
  
Faith’s decision tonight was important. So important that Tara had suddenly shielded her thoughts in the link now. The wild and swirling emotions were completely absent from the bond. The message was clear. Tara hadn’t lied. Their relationship, their possible dynamic, rested solely with Faith. And Faith had no doubt Tara would walk away if Faith wanted out.   
  
Like that would ever happen. Kneeling in front of Tara, Faith let that sink in. She didn’t want Tara to walk away. She didn’t want them to only be friends and lovers. Faith wanted more. She wanted Tara to look at her with that cool, haughty expression and raise one eyebrow in a clear “how could you possibly think that was a good idea” comment. She wanted Tara’s arms around her when the nightmares haunted her or when she’d accepted a well-earned punishment.  
  
Faith wanted Tara. Forever. In every way.   
  
And there was only one way to get that.  
  
“Lady Tara,” Faith started again. That was better. It was right. “You told me I had to pick our relationship. I have.” Like Pinocchio moving without the benefit of a guide-string for the first time, Faith held out the collar and bent her head in supplication. “Please...Please let me wear your collar.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for hanging in there through my min-writer's block and RL crisis. I think I'm just about back into Muse Mode (as long as the Evil Wench doesn't get distracted by random plot bunnies or new fandoms). If you'd like to swing by and say "hi" or chat, visit me over on Tumblr @omgsmoothmonkey.


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